Pierre de Wiessant

Pierre de Wiessant is a bronze sculpture by French artist Auguste Rodin, part of his sculptural group The Burghers of Calais. This sculpture represents one of the six burghers who, according to Jean Froissart[1] surrendered themselves in 1347, at the beginning of the Hundred Years' War (1337–1453), in order to save the inhabitants of the French city of Calais from the English laying siege to the city.[2]

Pierre de Wiessant
Pierre de Wiessant, part of The Burghers of Calais
ArtistAuguste Rodin
Year1887 (1887)
TypeSculpture
MediumBronze
LocationMuseo Soumaya, Mexico City

Between 1884 and 1886,[3] Rodin created nude studies of each of the burghers, then draped them in wet canvas in order to cover to better grasp how the human figures would look clothed with sackcloth, as their real-life counterparts were supposed to have worn when surrendering to Edward III of England.[4]

Rodin made two models and one study of Pierre de Wiessant before the final sculpture. The first model shows the young man pointing to himself with the right hand, as if questioning his final destination. In the nude study he is no longer pointing to himself, but using his arm in a defensive manner. Elsen mentions that both Auguste son and actor Coquelin Cadet have been named as possible reference models.[5]

  • Two studies of Pierre de Wiessant at the Musée Rodin in Paris
  • Pierre de Wiessant at the Museum of Israel in Jerusalem
  • Nude Study in 1885 for Pierre de Wiessant Fondation Bemberg
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References
  1. Froissart, Jean, Chronicles of England France, Spain, and the adjoining countries, (1805 translation by Thomas Jhones), Book I, ch. 145
  2. Museo Soumaya. La era de Rodin (in Spanish) (1st ed.). México: Fundación Carlos Slim. ISBN 9789687794365.
  3. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Auguste Rodin | Pierre de Wiessant (A Burgher of Calais)". The Metropolitan Museum of Art, official website. Retrieved September 30, 2016.
  4. "Brooklyn Museum – Pierre de Wiessant". Brooklyn Museum. Retrieved September 30, 2016.
  5. Elsen, Albert Edward; Jamison, Rosalyn Frankel (2003). Bernard Barryte (ed.). Rodin's Art: The B. Gerald Cantor Collection at Stanford University. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 61–64. ISBN 0 87099 442 5. Retrieved September 30, 2016.
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